Bil 
532. 
from the logs of some of the vessels caught in the 
Straits of Sunda at the time (see Nature, 1884, Jan. 
10, p. 240). 
A careful consideration of the data there available | 
would seem to render it almost certain, that, in this 
Krakatoa explosion, something like two or three 
cubic miles, perhaps more, of earth which formed the 
northern part of the volcanic island and its underly- 
ing strata, were blown into the air to some unknown 
height, and clearing entirely Lang Island, lying im- 
mediately north-east, came down again six or eight 
miles to the northward and eastward. As this prob- 
ably took place at a single explosion, and as large 
amounts of gases under enormous pressure were al- 
most certainly suddenly set free, to say nothing of 
the sudden generation of steam, it is, perhaps, not to 
be wondered at, that this immediate demand for 
‘more room’ should have started a series of waves 
in the atmosphere (like those in a mill-pond from 
the plunge of a stone) which travelled several times 
round the globe. 
The vessels’ Jogs above referred to — one reporting 
the barometer fluctuating between twenty-eight and 
thirty inches and violently agitated, and another the’ 
same rising and falling from half an inch to an inch in 
half an hour —show how violent was the local disturb- 
ance, which, by the time it reached this country, 
amounted to only about two millimetres. 
Doubtless some slight effect of this kind must fol- 
low every large explosion, like that of a powder-mill, 
over some limited area; and it is worthy of note, that 
Mr. Scott, the secretary of the London meteorological 
council, in his paper communicated to the Royal 
society on Dec. 4, 1883, states that the traces of these 
Krakatoa waves ‘‘ exhibit considerable similarity to 
that of the King’s barograph at the Liverpool obser- 
vatory, at the Waterloo docks pierhead, on the 15th 
of January, 1864, when the Lottie Sleigh, loaded 
with about twelve tons of gunpowder, blew up. 
The ship was lying about three miles from the obser- 
vatory.”’ But this phase of such explosions is 
entirely distinct from their sound and their window- 
shattering character. H, M. PAU: 
Washington, April 21. 
Osteology of the large-mouthed black bass 
(Micropterus salmoides). 
Very recently my studies have required me to 
make several dissections of the large-mouthed black 
bass, and carefully prepare two or three skeletons of 
this fish. ‘These skeletons are now before me, and in 
two of them I notice a very interesting anatomical 
point. During the course of my reading upon the 
skeletons of fishes, I have failed to discover any 
account of a similar condition in any of the Tele- 
ostei, and note it here, trusting that I may learn 
from others, interested in the anatomy of this class 
of vertebrates, whether or no they have ever observed 
the same. This consists in a pair of freely articu- 
lated ribs at the base of the occiput. Their heads 
are received in a shallow facet on either side, situ- 
ated just above and rather internal to the foramen 
for the vagus nerve. Immediately below each rib 
occurs the projection of bone that bears upon its 
entire posterior aspect one of the pair of articular 
condyles for the first free vertebra of the spinal 
column. Still beneath these condyles is seen the 
eonically concave facet for articulation, with a simi- 
larly formed surface occurring on the centrum of the 
vertebra just mentioned, and the one which I believe 
would be described as the atlas. 
This pair of ribs is directly in sequence with the 
abdominal ribs on either side. Their occurrence in 
SCIENCE. 
iP 2 ree Uae 
this situation might be accounted for by saying that 
several of the anterior vertebrae of the column had 
been absorbed by the occipital elements. Mr. Bridge 
found such a condition in Amia, though no free ribs” 
were present (Journ. anat. phys., xi. 611, Lond., 
1877). In the cranium of Micropterus, however, IL 
should think that this would be highly improbable. 
Both the first and second vertebra of the spinal 
column of this bass support each a pair of free ribs, 
and a mid-series of the other abdominal ribs bears 
epipleural appendages. Dr. Gunther states in his 
account of the osteology of the Teleostei, in article 
‘Ichthyology,’ of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (vol. 
xii., 9th ed.), that ‘“‘the centrum of the first vertebra 
or atlas is very short, with the apophyses scarcely 
indicated. Neither the first nor the second vertebra 
has ribs.’”’ JI have a yellow perch (Perca americana) 
in my possession where both of these vertebrae sup- - 
port a pair of free ribs. 
Should an examination of the young of the black 
bass show that none of the anterior vertebrae of the 
column were included with the occipital segments, 
but that these ribs are truly occipital ribs, then they 
become of interest from several points of view. 
h. W. SHUFELDT. 
Washington, March 31. 
Caulinites and Zamiostrobus. 
As Science has devoted a page of its valuable space 
to Mr. Joseph F. James’s copies of Mr. Lesquereux’s 
figures of these plants and his remarks thereon, in 
which, without having seen the specimens, he essays 
to overthrow the determinations of the venerable 
paleontologist, a word in reply may be justified as 
tending to correct the impression, already quite preva- 
lent, that the determinations of vegetable paleontolo- 
gists are in large measure mere guess-work. 
As regards Caulinites fecundus, little need be said, 
since its problematical character was sufficiently in- 
sisted upon by Mr. Lesquereux in his description. 
The ‘capsules’ are much smaller than those of 
Onoclea sensibilis, and are found in intimate relation 
with the stems which have been called Caulinites. 
The matrix is a light, fine-grained shale, showing the 
longitudinal, parallel nervation of these stems very 
clearly. It also contains fragments of dicotyledonous 
leaves which may have belonged to the plant that 
bore the fruit; but no ferns are present, as these 
would be clearly shown by their characteristic nerva- 
tion. It is safe to say, that, if Mr. James had exam- 
ined the fossils, he would not have said that there was 
““no doubt” in his ‘‘mind that Caulinites fecundus 
is nothing but a part of the fertile frond of Onoclea 
sensibilis.”’ 
As regards Zamiostrobus, however, there is ‘no 
doubt’ that Mr. James is egregiously in error. His 
confident statements well illustrate the folly of dis- 
cussing mere figures of objects that are in existence. 
He has entirely misapprehended the nature of the 
specimen; and this is not altogether the fault of Mr. 
Lesquereux’s figure. The fossil is a segment of a 
zone, cut out of a cylindrical or conical body which 
must have measured about eight inches in diameter. 
This segment was placed with the exterior surface 
upward in the drawing, in order to show somewhat 
in perspective both this surface and the radiate 
structure of the cross-section from the direction of 
the centre. 
the manifest angle which all the dark spots have on 
one side, and which fixes their true character as scars — 
of former leaves. It is probably not a cone, as Mr. 
Lesquereux supposed, but a fragment of one of those 
The figure is defective in not showing ~ 
. [Vou. III, No: a 
‘ 
